Misc Manufacturing & Distributing

Background

The miscellaneous manufacturing and distributing industry is a big one; it covers various types of manufacturing, as well as products ranging from paper and glass to clothing.

Like many industries, misc manufacturing and distributing spends more in presidential cycles than in non-presidential cycles. But while contributions in 2016 ($55.5 million) were up from 2014 ($36 million), they actually stayed below 2012's total of $55.6 million. Most of that money went, as it has since 1990 (the furthest back our data goes), to Republicans. There hasn't been a single cycle on record in which less than 60 percent of the industry's contributions to candidates and party committees went to Republicans.

As considerable as this industry's contributions are, its lobbying is even more prolific. Outlays in 2016, a relatively low-spending year, nearly hit $79 million. 2015's sum almost reached $107 million. General Electric and Honeywell International were two of the industry's top three lobbyists, but leading the pack was the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade association.

The organization barely makes political contributions (less than $40,000 in the 2016 cycle), but that leaves plenty of money and energy for lobbying. In 2015, its lobbying spending nearly hit $17 million, though in 2016 that decreased to about $8.5 million. The organization covered 35 issues (as we categorize them) in its lobbying, a whopping total that reflects the multifaceted nature of both its membership and the industry around it.

Except for the Revolving Door section, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License by OpenSecrets.org. To request permission for commercial use, please contact us.